"Regarding Miren," Mu Yiran said, "all I know is that he died at the young age of thirty-eight, and that his death was not natural."
"Not natural?" Ke Xun stared at him intently, his cat-like ears perked up.
"Suicide," Mu Yiran said. "He seemed to have never married, lived alone, and was found dead in his small apartment, having overdosed on sleeping pills. There was no suicide note, only a recently completed painting. If I'm not mistaken, this painting, 'Pure Land,' might be his last work."
"In that case, it seems we can understand why the painting is titled 'Pure Land,'" Qin Ci said. "When he painted this, he might have already resolved to die. Death might have been a relief for him. Like many others, he believed that after death he could attain blissful ease—could he have been suffering from an incurable disease, and thus sought release through death?"
"There's no way to verify this at the moment," Mu Yiran glanced at the six doors in the room. "If this painting is his last will and testament, what we need to do is find out the connection between the world he created and his life experiences and the cause of his death."
"Now that we know the contents of three worlds, should we investigate the remaining three worlds tomorrow?" Luo Wei suddenly asked.
"We can only check again tomorrow. Nighttime is the most dangerous time in the painting," Qin Ci said, looking at one of the doors. "Qi Qiang and the other two haven't returned yet. I wonder if something happened to them."
"You guys hurry up and find them!" Zhao Haicui suddenly shouted. "What if they're lost?! What if something happens to them?! You know this place well, you go and find them!"
Wei Dong had long been annoyed by this woman and retorted irritably, "Do we have that obligation?! Sister, did you bring a makeup mirror? Please look at your face and see how big it is!"
"You—" Zhao Haicui started to argue, but no one paid any attention to her.
"Sister Zhao, why don't we two go look for them?" Zhang Lifeng, a colleague who came in with Zhao Haicui, said. "Didn't we agree to leave a mark? Let's follow the marks they made, we should be able to find them."
Although Zhao Haicui was eccentric, she had an unwavering loyalty to her companions. Hearing this, she glared at the others and followed Zhang Lifeng toward the door where the other two colleagues had entered.
"This is my last piece of advice," Ke Xun said to the two, "Running around at night really can kill you. You better watch yourselves, meow."
Zhao Haicui turned her head and cursed, "I don't believe you! A grown man meowing like a cat for no reason, what kind of cuteness is that! Disgusting!"
After saying that, she and Zhang Lifeng pushed open the door and left.
Ke Xun: "???"
Wei Dong spread his hands: "If a person is determined to die, even the King of Hell can't stop them. Meow."
Ke Xun: "..."
Everyone: "..."
It was already past eight o'clock in the evening. The group that remained in the initial room sat on the floor, waiting for dawn, or for death to come.
Of course, the group would not sit idly by and wait to die. Analyzing the painting and discussing clues had become a tacit understanding formed by the old members through many collaborations.
"We're now shrouded in layers of fog, more perplexing than any painting we've ever entered before," Qin Ci said in a deep voice. "We're currently facing two puzzles:
"First, the three known worlds have vastly different styles and eras, and we can't find any clues;
"Second, what role will the items we've obtained play?
"Let's brainstorm and broaden our thinking, not be limited by preconceived notions. Even if it sounds like a completely unreasonable speculation, we can share it for others to consider.
"Xiao Mu, you... cough, you go first?"
Qin Ci almost choked when he saw Ke Xun sprawled lazily on Mu Yiran's lap like a lazy cat, his eyes narrowed into crescent moons, and he yawned widely.
"Damn, am I blind?" Wei Dong covered his face with his hand, turned his head, and complained to Zhu Haowen beside him, "You really treat us straight men like we don't exist, don't you think, Comrade Zhu!"
Zhu Haowen lowered his eyes, his face expressionless.
Mu Yiran lifted his gaze from the face of the lazy cat on his lap, looked at the group in front of him, and said calmly, "Speaking of the vastly different art styles of the three worlds, the props we've obtained also don't belong to the same style or era. I think this might be related to these six worlds."
As if struck by a sudden realization, Zhu Haowen looked up at him, "You mean, the props we have might correspond to these six worlds?"
Mu Yiran nodded slightly, "Let's do a matching exercise."
He listed the thirteen props they had obtained and the three known worlds on either side, then identified the correlations between them.
"I brought paper and pen." Luo Wei pulled a palm-sized notebook and a pen from his pocket.
The left side listed the props:
two longan seeds,
an ancient scholar's cap,
an ancient engraved bronze basin, and a writing
brush .
Fishing rod,
cat whiskers
,
sword, fruit,
red round stone,
rabbit ear headdress
, cat ear headdress
, dragon horn headdress
, black bell-bottoms and a red and white striped T-shirt.
The right side represents the known world:
the ancient world before the Qing Dynasty
, a two-dimensional world resembling paper-cutting from the late Qing Dynasty ,
and an anthropomorphic animal world set in a modern society
. Everyone peered at the two columns of content on the paper and discussed the results of the matching and classification.
[Ancient World Before the Qing Dynasty]Applicable Props: Two longan seeds, ancient scholar's cap, ancient engraved copper basin, brush, fishing rod, sword, fruit, red round stone;
[Two-dimensional World Resembling Paper-cutting from the Late Qing Dynasty]Applicable Props: Fishing rod;
[Anthropomorphic Animal World Set in a Modern Society]Applicable Props: Fruit, red round stone, cat whiskers, rabbit ear headdress, cat ear headdress, dragon horn headdress.
"Among the props we obtained, none are two-dimensional," Luo Wei said, pointing to the list on the paper. "But because there are fishermen in this two-dimensional world, Mr. Qin's fishing rod can temporarily connect to this world. In addition, there is one item that is not currently available: the outfit of black bell-bottoms and a red and white striped T-shirt. Strictly speaking, this outfit is also applicable to the anthropomorphic animal world, but given that we are still unclear about the contents of the other three worlds, perhaps this outfit can be categorized into the other three worlds."
"We have thirteen people and thirteen props in total, while there are only six worlds here," Zhu Haowen continued. "This means that some of the things we have summarized above belong to the other three worlds, and the first ancient world has the most applicable props. From another perspective, this proves that in the other three worlds, there must be another existence similar to the first ancient world, which will distribute these props."
"Meow, do you think these props might be a kind of key to unlocking the game?" Ke Xun lay on Mu Yiran's lap, his hands tucked under his body in a peasant's pocket gesture. "These six worlds are like six locks. We can only open the door and pass through if we use the corresponding key to find the corresponding lock, meow?"
"And given that the rules don't allow changing props," Mu Yiran continued, "we, the people who enter the painting, can only carry the props we choose and enter the corresponding world. Perhaps that's how we can find clues and Milen's signature."
"No wonder we didn't find anything after entering those three worlds just now," Wei Dong realized. "Obviously, some of us entered the wrong world. The props we carried didn't match the style of the world we entered. It's like entering the wrong password; of course, we can't open the corresponding program." "
Then tomorrow, we can try to regroup the props by style and choose the corresponding world to enter," Qin Ci said.
Wei Dong pulled out his prop, a calligraphy brush, from his pocket and said, "According to my prop, I should enter the world that Ke'er and the others entered."
"Then I'll enter the anthropomorphic animal world?" Ke Xun finally left Mu Yiran's lap, sat up straight, and turned to look at Mu Yiran. "Yiran's prop is a fruit, which works in the first ancient world, the anthropomorphic animal world, and might even work in the other three worlds."
"It's like drawing numbers in a lottery," Luo Wei said. "If you get three or more of the same numbers right, you win the grand prize. Since the fruit might work in multiple worlds, let's try a few more times. Maybe we'll get it right in one of them. The same goes for the others. We can enter these six worlds a few times using different combinations. Eventually, we'll get it right."
Everyone nodded in agreement. They were silent for a moment, each finding a corner to rest while remaining vigilant for anything that might happen after nightfall.
Ke Xun and Mu Yiran sat together, leaning against the wall, looking up at the wallpaper on the walls and ceiling. As night fell, the star and moon patterns printed on the wallpaper gradually emitted a star-yellow light, and seemed to be slowly flowing, looking dreamlike. If it weren't for the terrifying paintings that could lead to a bizarre and gruesome death at any moment, this room would be like a beautiful fairy tale.
"Yiran meow," Mu Yiran heard Ke Xun speaking to him in a voice that wasn't meant to be cute, "Did you have any adverse reactions after eating that strange fruit?"
Mu Yiran didn't answer, but instead glanced at him: "How are you feeling now?"
Ke Xun thought for a moment, then meowed: "I feel very energetic, and my vision is especially clear. Look, the light in the room is obviously very dim, meow, but I can see the little stubble on Dongzi's chin across from me, meow."
Mu Yiran frowned slightly, almost imperceptibly, then suddenly raised his hand and gently hooked Ke Xun's chin, and then heard a soft purring sound coming from Ke Xun's chest.
"Oh my god, meow..." Ke Xun's voice was low and husky as he arched his body upwards, getting closer to Mu Yiran's face. "Are you teasing me, boss?"
Mu Yiran looked down at him, his voice also low and husky, and asked softly, "Feels good?"
"So good, meow~~~" Ke Xun reached out and grabbed Mu Yiran's shoulder, hanging his entire upper body on his chest, nudging his cheek with his nose. "Again, Yiran, play with me, meow."
Mu Yiran raised his hand again, but instead of hooking his chin like before, he placed his hand on the back of his neck and then pinched it: "Try moving."
Ke Xun didn't move at all, as if a soft spot had been pinched, his eyes wide open, unable to even speak.
Mu Yiran released him, his voice still deep, but endlessly serious: "Ke Xun, you're turning into a cat."